Apparatus for exhibiting moving pictures.



, J. U. HOUSE'MANy APPARATUS FOR EXHIBLIING MOVING PICTURES. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1912.

1,089,219, I Patented Mar. 3, 1914.

2 SHEE'IXBSHEET l.

1 J. U. HOUSBMAN.

APPARATUS FOR EXHIBITING MOVING PICTURES APPLICATION rum: NOV. 4, 1912.

2 anus-ans! 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH U. HOUSEMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOJOHN S.

-MOE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR EXHIBITING MOVINGPICTURES.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J osnrn U. HOUSEMAN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at moving-picture exhibiting machine, with a view to rendering the pictures projected on the screen particularly clear and free from the flickering effects due to rapid changes in the intensity of the projected illuminating rays.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

which illustrate a moving-picture exhibiting 1 machine equipped with myimprovernents in one desirable formFigure 1 is atop planand partly diagrammatic view of so much of the machine 'as .is deemed necessary for a clear understanding of my invention; Fig. 2, an enlarged view taken from line 2 in Fig. 1 and showing my improved rotary shutter in elevation; Fig. 3, a broken and enlarged view taken from line 3 in Fig. 1 showing an auxiliary light-projecting, screen-i1luminating' lens and adjustable supporting means therefor; Fig. 4, a view taken from line 4 in Fi 3; and Fig. 5, a section taken on line 15 in ig. 4, showing, in elevation, an adjustmoving-picture exhibiting machine able attachment for framing and regulating the intensity f the auxiliary screen-illuminating light-rays.

The reference numeral 6 designates 2% 0 known construction having an operating crank-or handle '7 which actuates the intermittent picture-film feeding mechanism and rotates the shutter-shaft 8.

vThe machine is'"provided with thepicture projecting-lens 9 and a suitable lamp-house containing an. electric lamp, or other source of light, 10,'and a condensing lens 11.

.On the. frame of'the machine above the projecting-lens 9 is a horizontally-extending post 12 provided inits end with aclamping thumb screw 13; Adjustably secured against the post 12 by the screw 13 is a supportingbar-lfl. Mounted in an opening in the end of the barilt is a horizontal backwardly extending rod 15 fastenedin place by a setscrew 16.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 4, 1912.

Patented Mar. 3, 1914. Serial'No. 729,205.

The reference numeral 17 designates an auxiliary lens similar to and preferably of substantially the same power as the lens 9. Behind the lens 17 is a lamp 18 ofapproximately the same candle-power as the lamp 10, and in front thereof is a condenser 19 like the condenser 11. In practice, the lenses 9 and17 are both focused upon the pictureexhibiting screen, or the like, not shown, the rays projected through the lens 9 being framed upon the screen by the usual means.

Hanging from the rod 15 between the con denser l9 and lens 17 is an attachment 20 carrying'an apertured framing-slide 21 adjustable by means of a screw 22 to frame the rays from the condenser 19 through the lens 17 upon the screen in exact register with the framing ofthe rays from the condenser 11 through the lens 9. The attachment 20 is connected with the rod 15 by a clip 23, in which it is vertically adjustable, being secured in adjusted position by means of a thumb-screw 24.

Mounted upon the shutter shaft 8 is a rotary shutter 25. Hitherto it has been the usual ractice to provide moving-picture exhibiting machines with a rotary shutter having a plurality of blades or vanes possessing a combined area equal to, or slightly exceeding, one-half the area of the shutter, the vanes being approximately equidistant apart to provide spaces between them for the passage of the rays projected from the picture projecting-lens. One of these vanes serves. in each rotation of the shutter, to cut off said rays during the feed of the film, while the other vanes serve, by multiplying the speed of the light changes upon the screen, to blend the light rays and shadows in such a way as to tone down the picture on the screen, thereby, in a measure, to

neutralize the flickering effect and render the picture more steady to the eye. Any reduction of the flickering effect is thus produced at the expense of light intensityand clearness. In my improved construction I provide a shutter 25 having a segmental opening 26, approximating from two-thirds to three-quarters of a complete circle, for the passage of the rays from the picture projecting lens 9, and a vane or blade 27, approximating from one-quarter to onethird of the circle, which cuts off the rays from the lens 9 during the feeding movement 2O opposite theslide 21 is a diaphanous.

ment of the film. At the outer side of the opening 26 is a segmental vane or blade 28 approximating from; two-thirds to threequarters of a circle, and an opening 29 diametrically opposite to and of the same relative circular extent as'the vane 27,"-the vane .28 and opening 29 passing across the lens 17.

Mounted against the side of the attachslide 30 preferably of ground or colored glass of gradually increasing density or opaqueness from'one end to the other. The slide 30 is held in the upper and lower guides 31 and is fitted at itslower edge with a rack 32, with which a thumb-operated pinion 33 on the attachment 20 meshes. The purpose of the adjustable slide 30is-to modify the light rays projected through the lens 17 so that the will equal in intensity the rays passing t rough the film and projected from the lens 9. Thus, in the rotation of the shutter 25, when the vane 27 passes across the lens 9, the open space 29 of the shutter asses across the lens 17, with the result that the framed portion of the screen is maintained of the same tone as the picture. By turning the pinion 33, the operator may shift the slide 30 so as to modify or intensify the light rays projected from the lens 17 against the screen, and thus equalize them with-the rays projected from the lens 9. Thus, as the shutter cuts out the rays from the lens 9, it cuts in those from the lens 17, with the result that the same lightintensity is maintained throughout the framed portion of the screen, and flickering thereof is avoided.

The attachment 20 may be easily adjusted by the operator to frame the light-rays from the lens 17 upon the screen in exact register with the framing of the rays from the lens 9, thus avoiding flickering at the edges of the picture. This adjustment may be performed by sliding the bar 14 along the tightening-screw 18, swinging the attachment laterally upon the rod 15, and moving it back or forth thereon, and positioning the slide 21 by means of the thumb screw 22.

The shutter 25, as I prefer to construct it, iscut out of a suitable thin sheet of aluminum and is exactly balancedby 12pplying a strip 34 of heavier metal along edge-portion 35 outside the opening 29.

While I have shown two lamps or sources of Ii ht 10, 18, one of said lamps, more especia ly the lamp 18, may be replaced by a prism or other desirable form of reflector suitably positioned with reference to the lamp 10 and condenser 19 to reflect the rays of said lamp through the framing attachment 20 and lens 17 onto the screen.

The foregoing description is intended to convey a clear understandin of mt improvements in what I now be ieve to e the best form of their embodiment, and no undue limitation should be understood therefrom. It is my intention to claim all that is novel in my invention, and that the claim shall be construed as broadly as the prior state of the art will warrant.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- In an apparatus for exhibiting moving pictures upon a screen or the like, the combination with the intermittent feed for the film, and the picture-projecting lens, of auxiliary light-projecting means, a rotary shutter movable to shut oil the picture projecting rays during the feeding movements of the film and 'todirect the auxiliary light rays upon the screen during such periods.

. said shutter having a. pair, of vanes, one for each light-projecting means, said vanes being arranged at different distances from the axis of the shutter and on'the'same side of the axis with the vane farther from the axis having a greater length than the Vane nearer the axis.

JOSEPH IIOUSEMAN.

In the presence of NELLIE B. DEARBORN O'r'rrnne O. AVISUS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

